Days with the Dorans

There are times that the internet can be a beautiful thing... While in MB, I got a FB message from someone in Norway who I may be related to. It was very cool! We wrote back and forth a bit and I would love to know more but we'll see. I am going to take some pictures of my Nana's bible and send it to her so she can see it.

  (Pictures from WLC NOT Oxford) Columbine happened my first year teaching. I remember we were at a new teacher club meeting (they actually fed us and taught us stuff back then) at a country club when we heard on the news about the shooting and watched as kids and teachers were marched out of the building where so many murders had happened. I remember not even being able to comprehend what I was seeing. Sadly, since then, countless other school shootings have happened (even in elementary schools). "We" (America) will offer "thoughts and prayers" do nothing, act shocked when it happens again and repeat. Well this latest shooting feels a bit different because it was so close to home, and we knew people there. Oxford is a neighbor to Clarkston (where Jeff used to teach). Jeff actually was offered and turned down a job there (thank God). I think the proximity of this one really made this grab our attention a bit more than the "usual" shooting (isn't that r...

  We have a new president!! I watched as Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States. I can only hope that he will do his best to unite the country and to be honest, I'm just looking forward to not having to hear daily about the name calling and other lies spewed by a president of the United States. I feel like we can all exhale. No one ever LOVES a president but one can hope he or (hopefully one day) SHE will work hard to unite the country and compromise. I just can't tell you how wonderful this day was! And if that wasn't good news, so was this! I have gotten flowers every year since the choking incident happened. I never in a million years thought I would get them at home, but I did. It was a little reminder of the importance of what I do and that it's appreciated. I continue to work as hard as ever, stuffing my materials bags for my kinders, making videos and living on like NO sleep, but those flowers on that table, sure did make me feel a bit ...

Where were you on??? There are certain events in history that seemed to be referred to as just a date. 9-11 of course comes to mind and now we get to add another, and it happened today, January 6th. Thankfully, we will have a new president soon but the reality TV star who has been dividing the country with name calling and more did something today that I never in a million years thought would happen. Donald Trump lost the election but narcissist that he is (he literally things he is the smartest, healthiest, expert on EVERYTHING), claimed the election was stolen and people who drink his kool-aid seem to believe him and though he is wrong. He DID lose the election he had a rally of sorts to tell his followers that it was stolen and guess what... they stormed the capital! I was teaching my kindergarteners on screen when my phone screen started blowing up with alerts and messages that the capital was being overthrown. To be honest, I didn't even know what that meant or what it would l...

Look what I did?! So we had an outlet that didn't seem to work and then another outlet and I knew that something was wrong. I called my old elementary school/neighborhood friend, Doug Glowinski who is an electrician and asked if he could help me! He said he would... except he had Covid! BUT... he walked me through it and what do you know... I DID IT!!! My electrician Grandpa Drapal was probably smiling down at me. No more yucky orange extension cords in our family room!!! So proud of me!   

Dear Joey, Ali, Zach and Sean, It has been a HUGE week (or two) for our country and we (your dad and I) have been loving that we are able to watch it all unfold.  I felt like I should write a bit about it (like I did when our country elected its first black president- also huge) just so you can read history not just in the books (or I should probably say online) but hear it from our point of view... When I think about some of the BIG changes in America's history that I have found fascinating, it would be the Civil Rights Movement and Women's Suffrage.  I'm just starting my studies in Social Justice but I find it fascinating and something I want to learn about more and more!  It still blows my mind that when Great-Nan was born, her mom was not allowed to even vote!?!  Can you imagine??  Well, right now some people are up in arms about the changes going on, but I have to tell you that we aren't part of that group~ we are over-the-moon excited and here's why...

This is my Great-Uncle Erling.  He is my Grandpa Jonasen's younger brother.  I heard a lot about him growing up from my grandpa, but I didn't meet him in person until probably about 8 years ago when he came for a visit with his son.  It was really neat seeing he and my Grandpa together and a bit sad too knowing it was probably the last time they would see each other.  At the time my Grandpa was in his 90s and Erling in his upper 80s.  He was a great man (just like my amazing Grandpa Jonasen).   My mom sent me an article that one of her cousins posted on FB. I've heard part of this story but to have it in writing is really cool.  It was printed in the Duluth News Tribune and you can read it HERE. For purposes of my blog (that I turn into a book), I am going to copy and paste the article here because it is simply fascinating!  It was written by Stephanie Hemphill. I should add (before you start reading), that there is no typo in the art...

OK.  I am first to admit it!  I take life pretty much day by day- sometimes moment by moment.  We do a lot of running and currently have things every single day (usually multiple things a day).  It is May and I FINALLY took down the Snowbabies in my curio cabinet.   Don't judge too much... I don't go in my dining room very much... and totally forgot about them! I also had a bin in there of some of my Nan's old china from when she moved.  While I'm not really into that sort of thing, since it was my Nan's, I told my mom I would love to have it and showcase it.  As I start to unwrap the pieces, I realized what treasure she had.  One of the plates was from 1892 and most of the pieces (if not all) were hand painted and just beautiful.  I really enjoyed looking at them and wished my Nan could tell me the story of where she got them from.  I doubt she would remember, but you never know... baseball season will be over next month and ...

It's no secret that my Nan has a horrible memory.  I know it's been really hard on my mom who would receive her MANY phone calls each morning and each evening.  She'd always say the same thing, "I'm so confused,"  "I don't know why I'm so mixed up" or "What do I do now?"  Then she'd hang up and a few minutes later, the phone would ring again. It was so hard and I know my mom was really struggling with everything!  My mom looked into different types of care for my Nan like perhaps moving her to a group home (that we actually went and visited) but in the end, she decided to keep her in the same place (she's very active during the day) but with more care in the mornings and at night.  She's right down the hall from her old apartment, but instead of having a two bedroom, two bath place (a bit much for her), she has a one room place that is set up like a studio.  I love it and it's so cozy. The boys moved all t...

 I have mentioned before that that my kitchen (or lack there of) has been a source of stress for us. We have done a lot of things to save money~ a few of which we ended up throwing in the towel and paying the professionals to come in and save the day.  I will save those lovely stories for the final reveal (which should come sooner than later... God-willing!). One thing that we did 100% on our own was our new walk-in pantry or "Costco Closet" as I like to refer to it. This was a MAJOR bonus to getting our new kitchen, especially because we have four kids that I think have tapeworms.  I say that because they are all pretty thin but you'd never know it if you saw what they ate each day.  We can't wait to have a door for our pantry so we can put a lock on it (and yes... I'm serious) to keep them out.  Especially sweet Sean who got into the apples (we found 10 apples around the house with one bite taken out of each... sigh). While my mom and I went to Home De...